Commissioners cry foul on jail project

Court says staff should show how designer of jail was selected

ZEN T. C. ZHENG, Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

Published 6:30 am, Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Two Fort Bend county commissioners say they are kept out of the information loop by the county's administrative staff who failed to engage them in the decision-making process in selecting a contractor to build a new jail tower.

"I don't like the process," Commissioner Grady Prestage said Tuesday as the county's purchasing agent Gilbert Jalomo unveiled the four bidders for the construction of the $80 million facility. "I haven't seen any of the information and I am being asked to vote on such a large public facility."

Echoing the same concern, Commissioner Andy Meyers said the Commissioners Court had no knowledge what criteria the staff is using for selecting a contractor.

"We should have some input, but so far we've had none, and this is the largest project we are doing," Meyers said.

In response to the concerns, County Judge Bob Hebert urged Jalomo to bring a group of staff members to the court in a week for a presentation to detail the process of selecting a contractor.

"I'm pulling this item for a week and you come back to explain what you want to do and show us some numbers," Hebert said.

County officials have listed the jail tower as a top priority among a host of projects in a $130 million bond package voters approved in May. Last month, they picked Rosser International Inc. out of Atlanta, Ga., to team up with two local architects to start designing the facility intended to provide relief for the crowded jail tower at 1200 Ransom Road. The new tower will be built next to the existing jail building.

Don Brady, the county's director of facilities management and planning, said the 245,986-square-foot new facility would boost the existing 397,770-square-foot jail's 640 beds to 1,624.

Jalomo Tuesday said contractor bidding elicited responses from six construction companies around the country, of which four were picked by the staff as candidates for final selection. The four firms include Turner Construction Co, Manhattan Construction Co., Gilbane Building Co. and JE Dunn Construction.

Although he ordered the staff's open report for the commissioners, Hebert doesn't agree with Prestage and Meyers about how the court should be involved.

"The staff has an extremely objective bid process and I am comfortable with it," Hebert said.

He said the court should let the staff do its job so t doesn't "get hung up in the politics." Prestage disagreed.

"Everything is a political decision," he said. "This is a big project. We as the real steward of public money need to be engaged in decision-making."

At the meeting, Meyers said elected officials may not agree with the opinions of administrative staff or consultants, as in the case of a county-commissioned study by Klotz Associates to predict traffic demand on the county's roadways. While the study was accepted by the county engineering department, it raised concerns of members of a county mobility planning committee — including Hebert — because the study used outdated roadway crash data.

However, Hebert said he respected the opinions of Prestage and Meyers.

"I am sensitive to Grady and Andy's concerns, and that's why I asked for the presentation, so they get to look at the process and understand what their responsibilities are, and they are not just giving a rubber stamp," Hebert said.